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631+ Works 20,249 Members 188 Reviews 56 Favorited

About the Author

Aeschylus was born at Eleusis of a noble family. He fought at the Battle of Marathon (490 b.c.), where a small Greek band heroically defeated the invading Persians. At the time of his death in Sicily, Athens was in its golden age. In all of his extant works, his intense love of Greece and Athens show more finds expression. Of the nearly 90 plays attributed to him, only 7 survive. These are The Persians (produced in 472 b.c.), Seven against Thebes (467 b.c.), The Oresteia (458 b.c.)---which includes Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, and Eumenides (or Furies) --- Suppliants (463 b.c.), and Prometheus Bound (c.460 b.c.). Six of the seven present mythological stories. The ornate language creates a mood of tragedy and reinforces the already stylized character of the Greek theater. Aeschylus called his prodigious output "dry scraps from Homer's banquet," because his plots and solemn language are derived from the epic poet. But a more accurate summation of Aeschylus would emphasize his grandeur of mind and spirit and the tragic dignity of his language. Because of his patriotism and belief in divine providence, there is a profound moral order to his plays. Characters such as Clytemnestra, Orestes, and Prometheus personify a great passion or principle. As individuals they conflict with divine will, but, ultimately, justice prevails. Aeschylus's introduction of the second actor made real theater possible, because the two could address each other and act several roles. His successors imitated his costumes, dances, spectacular effects, long descriptions, choral refrains, invocations, and dialogue. Swinburne's (see Vol. 1) enthusiasm for The Oresteia sums up all praises of Aeschylus; he called it simply "the greatest achievement of the human mind." Because of his great achievements, Aeschylus might be considered the "father of tragedy." (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

Works by Aeschylus

Prometheus Bound (0480) 1,231 copies
Tragedies (0499) 1,032 copies
Agamemnon (0458) 771 copies
The Persians (0472) — Author — 445 copies
The Seven Against Thebes (0467) 307 copies
Choephoroe (1923) 169 copies
The Suppliants (1975) — Author — 151 copies
Five Great Greek Tragedies (Thrift Edition) (1994) — Contributor — 80 copies
The House of Atreus (0524) 42 copies
Zincire Vurulmus Prometheus (2013) 26 copies
L'Orestiade (1952) 25 copies
Görög drámák (1975) 16 copies
Obras completas (2012) 12 copies
Aeschylus 9 copies
Aeschylus Persae (1982) 8 copies
Tragödien und Fragmente (1938) — Author — 7 copies
Greske dramaer (1975) 5 copies
Prometeo encadenado (2015) 5 copies
Grčke tragedije (2004) 5 copies
Aeschyli Supplices (1992) 5 copies
Los persas (1996) 4 copies
Teatro Grego 4 copies
Tragedie (2005) 3 copies
Aiszkhülosz drámái (1985) 3 copies
The Oresteia of Aeschylus (2020) 3 copies
Aeschylus Choephoroi (2015) 3 copies
Drammi satireschi (2004) 3 copies
Fragmentos · Testimonios (2008) 3 copies
Teatro completo (1990) 3 copies
The dramas of Aeschylus (2018) 3 copies
The Suppliants, Volume 2 (1980) 3 copies
Sengrieķu traģēdijas — Author — 3 copies
Las Euménides (1999) 3 copies
Aeschylus 3 copies
Antikinės tragedijos (1988) 3 copies
Mourir pour Troie (2007) 3 copies
De sju mot Thebe (0467) 3 copies
The Oresteia (2005) 3 copies
Aeschylus Complete Plays (1978) 2 copies
Görög drámák (1991) 2 copies
Three other Theban plays (2016) 2 copies
Πέρσαι (1992) 2 copies
Traxedias (1999) 2 copies
Fyra sorgespel 2 copies
Sämtliche Tragödien (1984) 2 copies
Antike Tragödien (2013) 2 copies
Los persas 2 copies
Hamburger Lesehefte : Aischylos : Die Perser (1997) — Text — 2 copies
Prometheus Bond 2 copies
Coeforas 2 copies
Promencha 2 copies
Prométhée enchaîné (1999) 2 copies
The Complete Aeschylus (2013) 2 copies
Four Tragedies 2 copies
Orestíada (2012) 2 copies
Eschyle. Tome 2 2 copies
Prometheus Bound (2017) 2 copies
Greek Drama (1982) 2 copies
Elektra 2 copies
SIETE TRAGEDIAS, LAS (2013) 2 copies
Classic Greek drama (1996) 2 copies
Tragedie 2 copies
Prometeo incatenato (1994) 2 copies
Prometeusz skowany (2002) 2 copies
Eumeniderna 1 copy
COEFERE 1 copy
Gravoffret 1 copy
Orestia 1 copy
Le tragedie (1989) 1 copy
Perzen 1 copy
Coéforas 1 copy
Antike Tragödien (1992) 1 copy
Orestien 1 copy
Трагедии (2001) 1 copy
Das Totenopfer, (1944) 1 copy
Les Danas 1 copy
TRAGEDIES 1 copy
Théâtre d'eschyle (1956) 1 copy
Tragedias griegas (1983) 1 copy
Les perses 1 copy
Eumenides 1 copy
The Persians 1 copy
Os Persas 1 copy
The Libation-Bearers (2013) 1 copy
The Oresteia (2018) 1 copy
Théatre complet (1964) 1 copy
Les Euménides (2014) 1 copy
The Persae 1 copy
Electra 1 copy
Four Plays 1 copy
The Serpent Son - Oresteia — Author — 1 copy
Aischylos 1 copy
Trageodiae. 1 copy
De Perzen 1 copy
Antígone 1 copy
Els Perses (2013) 1 copy
Tragèdies (1932) 1 copy
Agamemnon & Medea — Author — 1 copy
ΠΕΡΣΑΙ 1 copy
Πέρσαι 1 copy
Περσαι 1 copy
Oresteia 1 copy
The Oresteia 1 copy
Les Perses 1 copy
The Plays 1 copy
Prometeo Ligita (1982) 1 copy
Smeekelingen 1 copy
Eumenieden 1 copy
Agememnon; (2010) 1 copy
Agamemnon 1 copy

Associated Works

Greek Tragedies, Volume 1 (1960) — Contributor — 1,412 copies
Electra [3 plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides] (1990) — Auteur, some editions — 686 copies
Greek tragedies, Volume 3 (1960) — Contributor — 654 copies
The Best Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis (2001) — Contributor — 545 copies
Greek tragedies, Volume 2 (1960) — Contributor — 482 copies
Greek Drama (Bantam Classics) (0405) — Contributor — 482 copies
Seven Famous Greek Plays (1938) — Contributor — 421 copies
The Portable Greek Reader (1948) — Contributor, some editions — 396 copies
Eight Great Tragedies (1957) — Contributor — 385 copies
Ten Greek Plays in Contemporary Translations (1957) — Contributor — 309 copies
The Complete Greek tragedies (1953) — Contributor — 203 copies
Masterpieces of the Drama (1966) — Contributor — 178 copies
An Anthology of Greek Drama: First Series (1949) — Author — 135 copies
Four Greek Plays (1960) — Contributor — 78 copies
Four Famous Greek Plays (1777) — Contributor — 77 copies
Treasury of the Theatre: From Aeschylus to Ostrovsky (1967) — Contributor — 48 copies
An Anthology of Greek Drama: Second Series (1954) — Author — 47 copies
Nine Great Plays: From Aeschylus to Eliot (Revised Edition) (1950) — Contributor; Contributor — 24 copies
East and Other Plays (Playscripts) (1977) — Adapted from, some editions — 15 copies
Drama (Outline of Knowledge, Vol. XVII) (2007) — Contributor — 12 copies
Agamenon / Hippolytus / Oedipus the King (1960) — Contributor — 8 copies
Drie Griekse tragedies (1961) — Contributor — 6 copies
Grieksche lyriek in Nederlandsche verzen — Contributor — 3 copies

Tagged

(428) Aeschylus (470) Agamemnon (100) ancient (258) Ancient Greece (484) Ancient Greek (189) Ancient Greek Literature (151) ancient literature (152) anthology (296) antiquity (165) classic (315) classical (180) classical literature (231) classical studies (87) classics (1,530) drama (2,700) Euripides (84) fiction (793) Greece (595) Greek (1,241) Greek drama (309) Greek literature (682) Greek mythology (132) Greek tragedy (307) history (125) literature (849) non-fiction (81) own (69) Penguin Classics (98) philosophy (78) play (485) plays (1,066) poetry (576) read (170) Sophocles (102) theatre (750) to-read (585) tragedy (802) translation (296) unread (84)

Common Knowledge

Legal name
Αἰσχύλος
Other names
Esquilo
Birthdate
c. 525 BCE
Date of death
c. 456 BCE
Burial location
Gela, Sicily
Gender
male
Nationality
Greece
Birthplace
Eleusis, Attica, Greece
Place of death
Gela, Sicily
Cause of death
Hit in head with shellfish dropped by a passing eagle
Places of residence
Athens, Greece
Eleusis, Greece
Syracuse, Sicily
Gela, Sicily
Occupations
tragedian
soldier
Awards and honors
13 victories at the Athens Dionysia
Short biography
Aeschylus was an ancient Greek playwright. He is credited with an estimated 92 plays, though only seven have survived into modern times. He is known to have fought at the Battle of Marathon (490 BCE), which influenced his Persians (the only surviving Greek tragedy based on contemporary events) and probably at the Battle of Salamis (480).
Born at Eleusis in 525 BCE, he started producing tragedies at Athens in 499, and had his first victory in 484. He visited Sicily at least twice, and died there at Gela in 456.

Members

Reviews

favourite of the trilogy. foundation myth for athenian homicide court
 
Flagged
highlandcow | 4 other reviews | Mar 13, 2024 |
Sete contra Tebas, de Ésquilo, é a única peça que chegou até nós de uma tetralogia que inclui Laio, Édipo e a comédia A Esfinge, e que venceu as Dionísias de Atenas em 467 a.C. Como pano de fundo da tragédia, temos a maldição lançada sobre a dinastia dos Labdácidas, reis da cidade-estado de Tebas, na Grécia, que causou o assassinato de Laio, a desgraça de seu filho Édipo, e uma guerra fratricida entre os dois filhos de Édipo, Etéocles e Polinices, para herdar seu trono. A história se inicia quando Polinices, alijado do poder por seu irmão, reúne um exército com mais seis generais gregos e cerca as muralhas de Tebas. Diante da invasão iminente, o rei Etéocles, protagonista da peça, procura acalmar os cidadãos em pânico e organizar a defesa da cidade. Destaca-se no texto a bela passagem em que Etéocles, informado por um espião sobre os sete generais que atacarão as portas de Tebas, identificados por seus escudos, designa os sete guerreiros tebanos que irão enfrentá-los. A extrema plasticidade desta obra-prima do teatro grego é realçada na apurada tradução poética de Trajano Vieira, autor também do posfácio a esta edição bilíngue, que inclui ainda um ensaio historiográfico do helenista inglês Alan H. Sommerstein.… (more)
 
Flagged
luizzmendes | 7 other reviews | Mar 10, 2024 |
Prometeu Prisioneiro, de Ésquilo (c. 525-456 a.C.), é uma peça única dentre as tragédias gregas, e uma das mais marcantes da história da literatura, tendo influenciado escritores e filósofos como Goethe, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Brecht, Camus e muitos outros. Integrante de uma tetralogia perdida, escrita provavelmente no final da vida de seu autor, ela se passa nos primórdios da civilização, após a Titanomaquia, e traz, de forma inédita, seres divinos como protagonistas.

A história tem início quando Força, Poder e Hefesto, por ordem de Zeus, acorrentam Prometeu a uma montanha nos confins do planeta. Preso e prestes a ser castigado, o Titã é visitado pelo coro das Oceânides, por Oceano, por Io e por Hermes, que tentam demovê-lo de seu enfrentamento com o novo chefe do Olimpo.

Verdadeiro libelo contra a tirania, mas também um alerta sobre os excessos do homem contra a natureza, a peça é apresentada aqui na esmerada tradução de Trajano Vieira. Esta edição bilíngue inclui ainda um posfácio do tradutor, excertos da crítica e um ensaio do classicista inglês C. J. Herington, que aborda os múltiplos aspectos desta obra ímpar do teatro grego.
… (more)
 
Flagged
luizzmendes | Mar 10, 2024 |
Most characters in this play were despicable. Murderers, adulterers, fools, tyrants, sadists. I just can't feel compassion for any of them. Really hard to think about nuances of justice when i just want them all to die. Perhaps that's the point of the play. It is so emotionally pleasing to imagine justice based on revenge but it might not be a good system in the long run. Hm, did i learn something here?
 
Flagged
rubyman | 17 other reviews | Feb 21, 2024 |

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Associated Authors

David Grene Editor, Translator
Richmond Lattimore Editor, Translator
Euripides Contributor, Author
Sophocles Contributor, Author
Aristophanes Contributor
Anne Carson Translator
Sofokles Author
Eiripīds Author
George Murray Translator
P.C. Boutens Translator
David R. Slavitt Translator, Editor
Gilbert Murray Translator, Editor
J. S. Blackie Translator
Augusts Ģiezens Translator
Henriks Novackis Translator
Philip Vellacott Translator
Paul Roche Translator
Robert Lowell Translator
Rex Warner Translator
Emil Zilliacus Translator
Frederic Raphael Translator
Richard Eichman Frontispiece
Robert Fagles Editor and Translator
Sylvia Allman Illustrator
Piet Gerbrandy Afterword
Michael Aryton Illustrator
Richard Seaford Introduction
Domenico Ricci Translator
Herman Altena Translator
Ernst Stern Illustrator
Elaine Raphael Illustrator
Dario Del Corno Introduction
Peter Østbye Translator
William Bedell Stanford Editor and Introduction
Ruth Padel Introduction
Leone Traverso Translator
Carles Cardó Translator
Otto Steen Due Translator
Enrico Medda Translator
Savino Ezio Translator
Philip Vallacott Translator
Luigi Battezzato Translator
Adrian Wilson Designer
Peter Burian Translator
Richard Stoneman Consultant Editor
Peter Brandes Illustrator
Don Bolognese Illustrator
Wendy Doniger Translator
Dietrich Ebener Translator
Wendy Doniger Translator
Ted Hughes Translator
Helene P. Foley Introduction
Erik Vos Translator
Elina Vaara Translator
Bo Foxworth Narrator
H. A. Shapiro Translator
Linda Purl Narrator
W. B. Stanford Introduction
Douglas Young Translator
Laurence Preece Illustrator
Peter Levi Introduction
Umberto Albini Introduction
Jan Stolpe Translator
William Matthews Translator
Stephen Sandy Translator
S.H. de Roos Designer, Typographer
G. Italie Editor
A. W. Verrall Editor, Translator
Émile Chambry Traduction
Denys Page Editor
Walter Jens Afterword
Denys Page Editor
Carles Miralles Introduction
E. H. Plumptre Translator
Lewis Campbell Translator
G. R. Barker Translator
Louis MacNiece Translator
F. H. Nash Translator
Robert Browning Translator
Peter D. Arnott Ed. And Tr.
Z. N. Brooke Translator
N. B Dearle Translator
R FAGLES Translator
J. C. Higgins Translator
W.S. Milne Translator
A. A. L. Parsons Translator
G. K. Leach Translator
A. J. F. Hood Translator
G. F. Helm Translator
A. F. Gardiner Translator
C. W. Greene Translator
Ieva Krūmiņa Illustrator
Curt Woyte Translator
Evert Straat Translator
T. G. Tucker Translator
Walther Kraus Translator
Hugh Lloyd-Jones Contributor
Quentin Fiore Illustrator
Anneke Germers Cover designer
J. Tapperwijn Cover designer
F. D. Allen Translator
Emil Staiger Translator
Kenneth McLeish Translator
Hjalmar Gullberg Translator
Francis Giffard Translator

Statistics

Works
631
Also by
35
Members
20,249
Popularity
#1,072
Rating
3.9
Reviews
188
ISBNs
952
Languages
31
Favorited
56

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